Okemos man says foreclosure led him to attempted robbery of former state treasurer

May 30, 2013

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Terrence Edwards

On the morning of Aug. 31, 2012, Terrence Edwards had a loaded pistol, a bag containing black gloves and plastic zip-ties — and a vague plan to force the state’s former treasurer to give him $170,000.

Edwards, now 56, who according to police reports worked in Gov. John Engler’s administration and in state politics, had no criminal record.

But that day, he told police, he needed to come up with $170,000 to buy back his Okemos house, which was in foreclosure.

So Edwards — wearing a sport coat, tie, sunglasses and black baseball cap — walked into the garage of the East Lansing home where Douglas B. Roberts, the former treasurer, had just put his gym clothes in his car trunk, and pointed the .22-caliber pistol at Roberts.

What happened next was a series of seemingly threatening and irrational actions by Edwards that lasted only a few minutes. The incident ended with Edwards walking away and Roberts and his wife, Roberta, left unharmed.

Edwards, who pleaded guilty to armed robbery and gun charges, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison.

“The guilt, the humiliation, the shame, has literally eaten me alive,” he said at the sentence hearing in Ingham County Circuit Court before Judge Clinton Canady III.

Edwards, who was found competent to stand trial, described the incident as “irrational” and “uncharacteristically reckless.”

Canady said that it appeared Edwards had “some kind of break with reality.”

In an interview, Edwards’ attorney, Keith Watson, said his client was under immense pressure because of the foreclosure. Edwards, he said, hadn’t told his wife and teenage son about it.

Edwards had quit working to become a stay-at-home father, while his wife continued her career as an elementary school principal.

“I think he did succumb to tremendous pressure,” Watson said.

Roberts, who served as the state’s treasurer for a total of 10 years and now heads Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, said in an interview he initially tried to delay Edwards in the garage.

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Roberts said his wife was standing on an elevated landing that leads into the house, so he tried to distract Edwards long enough so she could run inside and call 911.

With Edwards pointing the gun at him, Roberts backed up to the front of the car, but eventually he couldn’t go any further because there was no room between the car and the side of the steps. That’s when Roberts said Edwards pointed the gun to Roberts’ head, saying he would shoot him.

Roberts’ response was to lie to Edwards, saying he had cancer and was going to die anyway.

“I’m not sure why I said that,” Roberts said in an interview, recalling the incident. “I was buying for time, hoping help was on its way — and of course help was.”

Roberta Roberts had already managed to run inside and call 911 from an upstairs closet.

Edwards soon became frustrated and walked out of the garage, Roberts said. When he saw Edwards walking toward the street, Roberts called 911 from his cell phone.

Within minutes, as he was on the phone with a 911 operator, East Lansing police arrested Edwards.

Roberts said the subject of money never came up during the incident, and he didn’t know what Edwards, whom he didn’t know, intended to happen. He credits his wife for her actions.

“I don’t hold any ill will against (Edwards), but the act was serious enough that something had to be done,” he said. “Justice was done, and I am satisfied.”

He added: “ My wife — she saved both of us.”

Edwards told police that he didn’t know Roberts well, but knew he was the former state treasurer and knew where he lived.

He had driven by the home dozens of times in the days before the incident, trying to get the nerve to confront Roberts.

Edwards told police he thought he could talk to Roberts “and get him to understand what happened to him financially, and maybe Roberts would have a plan to get him out of his troubles.”

The topic of money never came up with Roberts, Edwards said according to police reports, “because (the) plan didn’t go how (he) thought it would and the conversation never got there.”